Yesterday was a fun afternoon and I have two images for today.
I met some great friends from Cedar Rapids at the Maquoketa Art Experience as they wanted to see my photography exhibit.
Left to right is Emily, Crissie, Lynda, and Lavon. They all use to work at the same company I did and only Crissie is still there. We spent an hour at the Art Experience looking at and talking about the images and then we went for Mexican food for lunch.
We had a nice lunch and good visit. I never cease to be amazed and thankful for the wonderful friends I have made over my career. I’m truly blessed to have so many wonderful people in my life.
I have two images, a short video, and a long story for today.
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Yesterday was the culmination of a month-long project. I never imagined how much was involved in the project in both time, work, and money.
I have close to 80,000 digital images on my computer and back up hard drives. Out of those I have probably printed no more than 20 over the last 18 years as the bulk of my work has been posted digitally.
About a year ago I was offered the opportunity to present my photography work at the wonderful Maquoketa Art Experiencein Maquoketa, Iowa. It is truly a remarkable place and if you are in the area you owe it to yourself to pay a visit. They have learning experiences and workshops for young children through senior citizens and allow artists the chance to show their work to the public.
So my showing was originally scheduled for December 2017, which gave me seven months to prepare. Being a chronic procrastinator I didn’t do anything about it and was notified in October that my showing (because of a scheduling conflict) was being moved to May 1, 2018. Even more procrastination followed plus retirement and then I received an email with a notice of the scheduling of my showing and when I needed to have my work to the Art Experience. PANIC!
I spent hours looking through those 80,000 images trying to pick a wide representative range of my work from wildlife, landscape, portraiture, farm scenes, and of course trees. I visited the Art Experience to see the layout of where I would be presenting and went to the wrong section of the building. The photographer, that was currently displaying had 47 images. Wow, I thought, that’s a lot of printing, matting, and framing not to mention the expense involved.
A commitment is a commitment so I started the process. I selected 43 images and sent them off to be printed. Then I shopped for and purchased 45 frames and matting materials. UPS was delivering boxes almost every other day. 🙂
All that “stuff” had to be un-boxed and unwrapped and then assembled. It was a daunting project to say the least. Our dinning room table became my storage space and the breakfast counter my work space. Jeanne was very supportive and put up with all the materials without complaint.
I got everything done and ready to transport so I sent an email to my contact at the Art Experience telling them I had 43 images to show. I received a reply the next day which stated, “You have too many photographs, we don’t have room for that many.” Ugh! Now what.
To shorten the story, the wonderful folks that make the Are Experience work said to me, bring what you have and we’ll make it work. WOW! They were so gracious and helpful I was very moved. One of my friends, who volunteers at the Art Experience came to my retirement celebration and told me that they had it all planned out and bring all my images. I was very happy.
So yesterday I loaded up the car and took my work to Maquoketa. Ted, Dick, Wayne, and Helen helped me with the hanging, wiring and placement of the images. We worked for four hours getting it ready. It was a fantastic experience that I will not forget. Wonderful people.
I have a 38 second video below if you want to see the work in progress.
This is one of the coolest gifts I have ever received for several reasons. It incorporates my love of photography and my fondness for wine.
I retired from Ohnward Bancshares, Inc. on February 07, 2018 after 18 years. It was a wonderful journey and the organization, the owners, and the employees have enriched my life beyond description. I was the Chief HR Officer for the organization, which allowed me to interact with the majority of staff. There are friendships that I will cherish the rest of my days.
However, I have never enjoyed “being in front of the camera.” So when my boss said they wanted to have a celebration of my retirement I declined several times. Long story short we had said celebration last Thursday at the Maquoketa Art Experience. 🙂
It was an amazing evening and many of my fellow employees both past and present showed up to celebrate my retirement including many of the friends I have made in the community. I was overwhelmed, humbled, and emotionally grateful for all those who came and the sentiments they expressed.
I am ashamed to admit this, but I have attended numerous retirement celebrations over the years and it never occurred to me to buy a card or a gift for the retiree. So imagine my surprise when I received over 50 cards and gifts including the one above.
What make this gift so special for me is that it is from three former and one current employees from Cedar Rapids, all of whom made the trip to Maquoketa to attend the celebration and presented this guy to me. I was speechless.
So for two and a half hours I greeted friends and received their kind words. I didn’t get to spend the amount of time with anyone that I wanted to as there was always someone new to greet.
After the celebration ownership provided a wonderful dinner at the Decker House for Jeanne and I plus many of the senior management team. Lots of memories were discussed and then my Friend and Boss Al read a commendation the company had created and once again I was speechless. In addition to the wonderful plaque there was a donation to my favorite charity in Jeanne and my name. It just doesn’t get any better than that.
So there were many thoughtful gifts that I received that evening. Here is an image of some of them. I think I’m sensing a pattern here. 🙂
Thank you Al, Kendra, Abe, Brig, and the entire Ohnward Staff for an evening and experience I will never forget.
Yesterday afternoon one of our departments held a customer appreciation event for their clients at the Maquoketa Art Experience. I attended to be supportive of them and of course I took my camera. I grabbed this “snapshot” of two of the principles of the department set against the background of some pretty neat art work.
One thing I thought about later on the way home was that I should have captured some images of the artwork as well. Anyway it was a very nice event and I got to see a lot of friends from the community. One of the many things I love about working in a smaller community. I grew up in a small town and that small town influence has never left me. 🙂
Thanks for stopping by. Enjoy your day and be careful.
Some more images from the Saturday portrait shoot at the Maquoketa Art Experience. I’m reasonably happy with these but there are several things I would do differently today. By the time I get to shoot portraits again I will have forgotten all I’ve learned including where I put the list of the things I learned. 🙂
Lots of detail work for me this time of year. It’s not my strong suit and it is always very hectic at year-end in the banking business. With all the new employment laws and regulations it is a significant challenge to stay current on it all. It’s the only part of my job that proves to be less enjoyable than all the other facets.
That’s all I have for today. I had a couple of great photo opportunities yesterday but was traveling without my camera (which is very unusual for me) so nothing to show for it.
Thanks for stopping by the blog. Enjoy your day and be careful.
Yesterday was a mixture of experiences, which I will not soon forget. I met some of the nicest people you would ever want to meet yesterday. Nancy Kilburg was so helpful and gracious. She made us feel at home and recruited people to have their portraits made. Thank you Nancy.
Jeanne as always was amazing. She felt terrible with a bad cold and I could tell all she really wanted to do was stay in bed. I tried as hard as I legally could to convince her to stay home but she wouldn’t hear of it. Not only did she go with me, she lugged equipment, shepherded people to where they were supposed to stand and posed for a ton of pictures (she hates having her picture taken) while I balanced the lights. She even used my steamer to get all the wrinkles out of the background. Then of course afterward she help carry the equipment back to the car. I fully realize how lucky I am to have her. 🙂
I also want to thank my friends who sent encouragement my way. That meant a lot.
So some of the technical (photo stuff) you can skip if you’re not into that.
Camera – Nikon D4 on a tripod in manual mode. A Nikon 24 – 70 mm f2.8 lens | ISO 100 1/125 sec shutter speed at f11. I shot tethered to my laptop using Adobe Lightroom CC 2015. I used a 4 light set up (which I probably will not use again) that one of my favorite photographers uses. Joel Grimes uses the 4 light set up and I’ve taken several video lessons from him so I thought I would try it. It works for him but I think I like a two light set up better. The edge lights were Elinchrom BRX500 mono lights with 25.5 inch soft-boxes with grids. My main light was from an Elinchrom Quadra Hybrid 440 mounted on a 52 inch octagon softbox placed directly over head of the camera. I also used a small strobe (that I’ve had for years) with a blue jel attached set up behind the background. I have mixed feelings about that.
What I did wrong. I was tethered to a laptop that I don’t normally use to process images and it has an ultra bright screen, which gave me images that looked brighter than they really were. Consequently I had the power set too low on my main light. It was okay but it would have been better a half or full stop brighter. If I use a background strobe again I will use it in a much different manner. In this case I would prefer (in hindsight) to not use it. Because the lights are sandbagged and difficult to move I sometimes don’t move them when I should. I should have used my light meter to get the correct lighting settings and then adjusted to suit from there.
What I did right. No reflection of light in people’s glasses. Even lighting of the face, which is what I always strive for. Got some really great shots of people capturing their emotions. I didn’t use a green screen 🙂
It was a long day. We were on the road at 7:15 p.m. and drove through a dense fog to get there. It took 1 hour and 45 minutes to get set up and be ready by 10:00 a.m. and then we sat until 10:30 before we had anyone come though. Two grandmothers with their granddaughters. They both hugged me after their session and thanked me for taking their picture. They have never had a picture of themselves and their granddaughter. WOW, that made my whole day. We had around 25 people come in and have their portrait made. Far fewer than I was hoping for but more than I thought I would get.
In the end was it worth it? Oh my goodness yes indeed. The grandmothers sealed that deal. I got to practice my craft. Learned (re-learned) a bunch of new stuff and techniques. Met some wonderful people that will now be my friends, found out where there is a 100 year barn and got permission to photograph it. Spent some time quality time with my best friend, Jeanne. Got to see some other people in a different way then I do during a normal work week. So yes it was a great day. Lots of work and I was tired by the time we got home but I’d do it again in a heartbeat.
This is my favorite shot of the day. This is Ted Strait and his little friend Abby. I’ve known Ted for several years but haven’t really spent much time with him. I got to meet his wife as well. Ted is a very community minded individual and contributes so much of his time and talent to the community and especially the Maquoketa Art Experience. He is one of the most interesting individuals I’ve met and he’s fun to visit with. I absolutely adore Abby.
Finally I’d like to thank Bob Osterhaus and the Maquoketa Art Experience for opening up their building for my use. If you have never been to the Art Experience you owe it to yourself to visit it. They are open every day. They hold special events and classes (there was a class for young artists going on while we were there) on a weekly basis. Some magnificent artists show their work at the Art Experience as well. Thanks again to Bob and Nancy!
So that’s my day. I need to process the images I took. Print them and get them to the folks before Christmas. Think I’ll do it again soon maybe at our church on “Food for the Soul” night.
That’s it for today. Thanks for stopping by and enjoy your day. Be careful.
I’ve written this blog (more or less) on a daily basis since 2010. I have posted over 1,400 entries and thousands of images and this is the longest I have gone without a post. I am experiencing a creative funk and in trying to figure it out I went to my archives and found this is a common theme for me around this time of year. I don’t know why it just is. This too shall pass. 🙂
The lovely lady in the image above is Kay Saunders. One of the nicest, most gracious individuals you will ever meet. We had our organization’s Christmas celebration this past Saturday and Kay was recognized for 45 years of uninterrupted service to the bank. Believe it or not there are a couple of people who have even more years of service. Kay is the first one at the bank every morning at 7:00 a.m. I asked her once if she was ever going to retire and she smiled (she always smiles) and said I can’t imagine why I would want to.
I received my 15 years of service recognition this year. Fifteen years is an amazing record for me. I have never been with one organization that long. I love the work that I do and the people I work for and with. It is a very fulfilling relationship.
I’ll leave you with this image of Sylvester and Tweety Bird from our Christmas Tree.
This coming Saturday I am doing a free portraiture shoot at the Maquoketa Art Experience in Maquoketa, Iowa. Anyone who shows up will get an 8 X 10 portrait of themselves (or family) and a CD of the image so they can make other size images as they choose. MAE has been gracious enough to allow me to use their facilities free of charge and it will be a great way to practice the type of photography I love the most.
The photo shoot will be from 10:00 a.m. until 3:00 p.m. so if you’re in the area stop by and say hi and maybe even have your portrait made. 🙂
That’s it for today. Thanks for sticking with the blog. I’ll get back on a more stable schedule soon. Enjoy your day and be careful.
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